No really, I am…..

Beef Rendang from Neil Perry’s Good Food

On my first outing with my new friend Carlo late last year, we had a lunchtime work week picnic. It was a beautiful day, and it was my first taste of the traditional Malaysian dish Nasi Lemak, served with a gorgeous beef rendang. I asked Carlo where he got his recipe, expecting a wonderfully complicated and difficult process, but he surprised me when he said, Neil Perry’s book “Good Food”. Yippee! I had that book, and had honestly never really paid much attention to it.

I’ve always wanted to make my own curry pastes from scratch but have always been somewhat intimidated by the process, even though it’s relatively easy.

This recipe, is actually really, really simple, using easily available ingredients. An excellent introduction to making your own curry pastes.

Rendang of beef by Neil Perry

800g beef, cubed [the original recipe calls for topside, but use casserole beef)

150g rendang curry paste

600ml Coconut milk (I used light)

1.5 tablespoons tamarind paste

6 kaffir lime leaves, crushed

1.5 tablespoons grated palm sugar

For curry paste

15g shrimp paste

1 red onion, roughly chopped

5g fresh turmeric, grated or 1 tsp ground turmeric

Finely grated zest of 1 kaffir lime (I used normal lime)

40g ginger, peeled and finely chopped

40g galangal, peeled and finely chopped

1 lemongrass stem, white part only chopped

12 long red chillies, seeds removed and chopped

8 garlic cloves chopped

For curry paste
Wrap shrimp paste in foil, and roast for about 10 minutes in a medium oven until fragrant.
Blend all ingredients until a smooth paste is formed

For curry
Heat a large pan or wok then add curry paste and fry for around 3 minutes until fragrant.
Add the beef, coconut milk, tamarind, and kaffir lime leaves.
Simmer uncovered, stirring frequently so the coconut milk doesn’t stick for 1- 1.5 hours until meat is tender and gravy has thickened.
Add palm sugar and salt to taste
Serve with Nasi Lemak or just steamed rice

I also went one more step further than the recipe to thicken the sauce the right way.

Toast 1/2-1 cup shredded or shaved dried coconut (NOT desiccated) in a frypan until brown and fragrant, and stir into the sauce once the meat is done to your liking. Use more or less coconut depending on how ‘soupy’ your rendang is – I find following the recipe in full leaves you with a lot of soup to thicken and if you just boil it down the oil splits.

Adding toasted coconut soaks up the water and oil, producing that deliciously thick gravy you get from a hawker stall but eluded me at home for years!

Haha! I’ve been waiting for this story Good on you for making your own curry paste from scratch. I’ve promised myself that I’ll do that once my curry pastes run out.
.-= Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella´s last blog ..Orange Farmer’s Markets and Lolli Redini, Orange, NSW =-.